Chapter 20: Double Down

Weiss let out an earsplitting whistle when they got to the Mirage, loud enough to reach every cranny of the main cavern in that cave system. The carrier had been positioned with each half perpendicular to the other, the breach facing the main entrance.

There was a moment of silence, then, scurrying sounds followed as figures revealed themselves from the slides and above, behind pillars and rock formations. One by one, the workers, operators and Ruby left their cover. The Huntress bound to the air, rose petals swallowed her and spiraled down to the group following Weiss.

She landed and immediately Weiss could tell Ruby was not pleased, "Please tell me he's our prisoner."

Weiss hesitated for a moment, picking the description that would least upset Ruby, "More of a temporary ally."

Already fuming, Ruby let her hands to her hips, "Oh come on…"

Roman, who apparently loved hearing the sound of his own voice, cut into the conversation, "That's right, Red. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity you know? I can—"

"Bail on us when things start looking difficult?" said Ruby.

"Me and my men can get you into Atlas, easily. It'll barely be an inconvenience," Roman answered. "We'll be on our best behavior."

"Right..." said Ruby, her tone so far from enthusiastic Weiss could almost feel the little bit of herself that drifted into Ruby when they wandered inside each other's minds, "And—General Ironwood? We thought you were dead!"

At the mention of his name, James stepped from behind Roman's men, nodding. "You could say I almost was."

Roman smirked, "And he'll never say it, but me, Neo and my men here saved him. Admit it, Red, having a helping hand can't be so bad."

Before the two of them reignited a fight, Weiss spoke up, "We'll leave this for later! Yang, Blake, why don't you two take them to the main camp? I'm sure the others will know how to best handle this."

Blake and Yang nodded, "Come on everyone, get behind me, we're going to the front half!" said the latter of the two.

Once they were out of earshot, Weiss turned to Ruby, "Ruby, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Still troubled by the presence of a past enemy, Ruby answered, though somewhat absentmindedly, "Go ahead."

"I talked to Ironwood on the way here," Weiss explained, finally getting the entirety of Ruby's attention, "He said my father was the one who paid Roman to break him out of the dungeon."

"There's definitely a plan there," Ruby added.

"Yes. Ironwood used to make deals with him. He thinks that the current General—"

"The one you saw in Winter's nightmare?" Ruby asked,

Weiss nodded, "Yes, that one. He thinks that's Arthur Watts — old researcher turned enemy when he didn't get the recognition he wanted. He might even be behind turning Winter into a hybrid."

Ruby tilted her head slightly, "So what does your dad saving Ironwood have to do with it?"

Weiss moved closer slightly, lowered her tone, "Well, here's the thing: he added some sort of killswitch on Ironwood's prosthetics. Now why would he do that if he just wanted an ally? I think he wants Ironwood back as General."

"Why would he do that if he could kill him after they take down Watts? With as much Dust as the SDC has he could try to pull a coup and take control himself."

Weiss shook her head, "I considered that too, but Jacques is a Noble, and Nobles rarely do things themselves. They find ways to delegate and spread their influence as wide as possible. Ironwood told me the military has been demanding more and more Dust from him, so I think the SDC is weakened, and my father wants to replace Watts with Ironwood. That way he can grow his supply back and get someone in the position of General he can command."

"All that with no eyes on him…" Ruby added. "Want me to give removing the killswitch a try?"

"Yes," Weiss said. "Right now, both the military and the SDC think we're dead, so one of them is bound to make a move soon. It doesn't matter who loses, the other side becomes way too powerful. We've even less time than we thought."

Ruby sighed, already making calculations in her head. Terrible as it was for Weiss to burden her fiance with the knowledge, she couldn't risk leaving them all weakened without it. Too many had put their lives on the line just to get them that far, their struggle would not go to waste! She remembered with a pang that team Ruby had lost their pilot and operator during the last battle, and they weren't the only ones. As cold as it was necessary, there was o time to mourn, they weren't the only ones affected, and they had to hold on to every bit of momentum they could gather to finish the fight.

After a couple of moments, Ruby spoke up, "I think we can do it. If we adjust some pipelines, and get all of Roman's men working on the Mirage. It should take about a week, just before the snowstorm hits."

"Actually," Weiss brought a hand to her chin, considering a couple of elements that had escaped her before. "Let's extend that a bit. Take the time to double check everything, make sure it's all in order. I have a plan."

The pair exchanged glances for a moment before Ruby broke the silence, "So… Are you going to elaborate on that plan?"

Weiss shook her head, "Later. We'll need a map, so it's better if we discuss it in the Hunt room. It is working, right?"

Ruby made a so-so gesture, "Kind of. The glass the hologram projected on shattered into like, a million pieces during the fight. I think I can rebuild it using some from one of the totalled Huntships."

"Then that's settled," Weiss said, cutting the conversation short upon recognizing a familiar figure that approached them a second later.

"Salutations! Hello friend Ruby!" Penny said, waving as she approached them. "Hello friend Weiss! May I say, your parkas are looking gorgeous today!"

"Thanks Penny, so is yours," Weiss said. As Penny was technically a mechanical construct she didn't really need to wear the heavy animal hide and fur garments. She'd suggested it as a form of solidarity with all the others who were struggling with the cold, and Weiss didn't really have the heart to object. "Any update on the transmitter?"

Penny straightened up before speaking, "Father has made solid progress over the last day or so! Though I must say, the Mirage is not exactly wheelchair accessible when on its side, so he's also working on a gravchair in the meantime."

"Sorry, I'd help if I didn't already have my hands full," Ruby said. "So what made you come all the way out here, just the status report?"

Penny perked up even more, something Weiss didn't think humanly possible without literally taking off to the air, "Ah, yes! Your final model for the catalyst just finished cooling!" she leaned forward slightly, "It is ready for testing."

There was a hint of curiosity in Penny's voice, perhaps she wanted to see how far the invention could be taken? She extended a hand, on it… a dagger, maybe a snowknife? The sheath was an exquisite piece of leatherwork, with silver circular patterns sewn into it. The same repeated to the handle.

Ruby smiled and took the weapon, "Thank you Penny! This is the perfect time actually…" she turned to Weiss, offering the tool, "I made this for you. Used the last bits of Cinderalloy we had."

Hesitant, Weiss took the snowknife, measuring the size, it was about as long as her forearm. Unsheathing it revealed a silver blade, "Isn't it a once-and-done kind of thing though? I'd hate to waste it…"

Ruby shook her head, "Not anymore it's not. I readjusted the Dust tempering, looked over some of the footage from our fight with the mecha-dragon from way back, with the help of Penny here," she pointed at the woman, who smiled back. "It's a delicate balance, and I don't think it's possible to make anything bigger than this without it going unstable and blowing someone's arm off, so I think I finally got it right. It's one of a kind now."

Weiss tested the blade. It had a straight edge and no guard, the handle long enough for a single hand. She considered the uses. After wandering with her team she had some of their memories, and they had hers. With their way of thinking clear in her mind, she was far more aware of things as they truly were, awakened, as one might say.

For one, she'd come to realize that her Semblance wasn't really only Glyphs, in the same way that Yang's Semblance wasn't just 'absorbing damage'. There were hidden nuances to every Semblance, and though most Huntresses died young, too young to fully realize those, some, like Glynda, lived long enough to do so. She could perform a wealth of feats with her Glyphs, from moving objects away or towards them, to trapping them, or even dilating time to single, specific bodies. It meant the Glyphs were only a medium, a vehicle to channel it through, a limitation, so to speak. It was an important piece of knowledge she'd be sure to keep in her mind at all times.

Weiss channeled her Semblance through the dagger. The weapon's blade in return gave off a faint blue glow, afterimages flickered in rapid bursts. It was a test of repulsion, directed through the dagger instead of a Glyph. Several steps away to their side, near a rock formation was an ice flower, a delicate formation of thin, swirling ice made from the fire Dust expelling moisture as it was formed. Weiss flashed the dagger down at it, cutting it free from the rock edge and catching the flower with the flat of the blade. It was far more precise than any of her Glyphs but already she could sense that channeling too power through it would destroy the weapon, it was not something to be drawn frivolously.

Penny clapped her hands, excited at the show of dexterity and knife fighting. Ruby smiled, in the same way she did when her inventions and weapons worked flawlessly.

What else could she do?

Weiss threw the ice flower in the air, switched the dagger to a reverse grip and channeled attraction instead of repulsion. She stabbed at the ice formation while it was still in midair, and with the help of her power the weapon found its mark and destroyed it, nearly magnetized in how easily it guided itself. Already, with so little time, the knife felt right in her hands, a perfect way to complement Myrtenaster in a fight.

With time, she could master this weapon too.

Weiss turned to face Ruby, "Are you sure you want this with me? Maybe Blake could make good use of it."

"Already talked it out," Ruby said, "She didn't want any extra weapons. Too used to Gambol Shroud. Yang likes having her hands free when fighting and her Semblance works better for the silver bullets, it'd just overload the knife."

"So I wasn't your first option? Now I'm almost hurt.." Weiss teased, brought a palm to her chin and a smile to her face.

Ruby's eyes went wide, she folded her arms, "Don't even joke about that! I'm the leader so you know I can't play favorites!"

"I know… I know… Still, thank you," Weiss said. She moved closer to Ruby, embracing her, "I like what you did with the sheath and handle, it reminds me of my Glyphs."

"Really?" Ruby softened some when Weiss let go, her gaze shifted from the dagger and back to Weiss. "I'm not used to working with leather but I read that it's better than plastics and synthetics. Lasts longer, and metals are out of the question since it's so cold out there it could fuse to the skin on the palm of your hand."

"And wood is out of the question!" Penny cut in, putting herself between the couple and snapping the remnants of tension like it was a frail twig. "It's scarce around here, and we need every bit we can get, to keep everyone warm!"

Under similar circumstances, others wouldn't be saying it with such optimism. Weiss wondered if that was Penny's very own superpower.

"I should get going," Ruby said. "There's a lot of work to do, and I don't think I can sleep well knowing Roman is around here. If he steps out of line," she opened Crescent Rose into sniper form, for emphasis.

"That's fair. Meet you at the workshop?" Weiss asked, Ruby nodded in return.

Penny left a moment later, but not before delivering another message to Weiss: "By the way, your sister asked me to tell you she'll be dropping in soon. She says you shouldn't be slacking on training between hunts."

Weiss sighed, part of sharing a space with winter was her incessant focus on training and perfection, but there were things that training just couldn't prepare her for! The first time Weiss faced down a pack of Beowolves during initiation, she was so caught up with going through the basics she almost ignored the danger ahead, and completely ignored Ruby's presence!

Most of the time training wasn't everything. A person's skill in combat would always deteriorate during a fight, there was no time to think, plan or make mistakes, because those can cost them their life. That was why they stacked the deck in their favor, made use of every single advantage no matter how small, and took their enemies by surprise if ever there was the opportunity.

When you're outnumbered as often as we are, simply being stronger is rarely enough to survive, Weiss reminded herself.

Weiss sighed, "I'll be seeing her then. Thanks Penny."

—❖—

Weiss wandered into the makeshift training hall, one of the dead end caves, illuminated by the Dust lamps on the wall. Some were not lit, she noticed.

Now, where's Winter? If she wanted to train so badly, the least she could've—

At that moment, Winder dropped behind her from the ceiling, a combat knife between her teeth. With her semblance she materialized an ice sword in her hand, took the knife and lept to the side, pressing a furious barrage of slices. Weiss dodged, taking steps back at every cut.

"Winter! What are you—" another slice, aimed at her throat. Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster out of reflex, knocking the blow to the side.

"Fight me, you girl!"

Winter nearly flickered to Weiss' other side, her movements so quick, and the training hall so poorly lit Weiss could only barely follow her trail.

Weiss fell back, parrying. Winter surged and sliced out ten rapid cuts, alternating between knife and sword, each one a masterful slice that would've made short work of newspawned Grimm.

Weiss parried each one. Their blades rang against one another, etching sparks in the air. Weiss felt the impact of Aura on Aura where they nearly touched.

Weiss danced backwards, quickly evading one of Winter's leaping cuts. Winder advanced, like a hawk on the hunt.

"What's the matter? Can't fight your own blood?"

Has she gone mad? Weiss wondered. But, not Winter!

Weiss planted herself. She stabbed low, and when Winter threw the attack aside she struck high, a pommel strike to the forehead.

The melee continued across the room; feint and thrust, parry and sidestep, their agility and skill at full display. Their Aura shields were depleting, blue energy shimmering around the edge of their figures, and their blands rang against one another as they exchanged blows that chimed like bells.

Weiss continued to move back, towards one of the Dust lamps. Lets see if you'll keep up the offense, Winter, Weiss thought. One wrong move.

Winter made the move.

She surged forward, stabbing down with both knife and sword. Weiss stabbed up, switching Myrtenaster's cylinder to electric Dust, and overloading the lamp in an instant. The lamp blasted in front of Winter's eyes, and in the moment of weakness, Weiss swept the legs from under her sister, and Winter fell on her back.

Weiss held the blade's tip to her chest.

There was a moment of silence, both of their breaths were heavy, they were gasping and heaving for air.

Winter was the first to laugh, Weiss soon followed.

"First time you ever knocked me down during training. You've improved a lot!" Winter said. "Come on, help me up."

Weiss sheathed her rapier, offered a hand, "What's gotten into you? This was certainly more… extreme than any other combat training," she said, pulling her sister up from the stone floor.

For a moment, Winter hesitated, "I needed to know something. Had to see it for myself"

"What, you had to know if I can fight one-on-one? Winter, that's practically the one thing I'm good at."

"Look Weiss, I know you mean well. I've seen the lengths you go to avoid killing anyone during a hunt. But by now I think you also know what needs to be done."

The comment took Weiss by surprise, "Winter… What do you mean by that?"

"I needed to know if you can really end the SDC." There was a dark undertone to her word, one Weiss was fairly familiar with. "There's only one way to stop Jacques now, he's gone way past the point of no return. Our family crest is on every Grimm android we fought, it was on that abomination they stuck me in! I wish we could've ended this differently, maybe even jail him, but I don't think that's possible anymore."

The words resonated with Weiss, she understood them deeply. So much of her time in Beacon was spent for the possibility she'd be able to return to Atlas and take over the SDC, changing things. In another timeline, perhaps she could've ended the slavery, the hidden empire Jacques had spread across Remnant. It was an impossible dream, she knew.

Winter continued, "I needed to know if when we raid Atlas, you'll have it in you to kill our father."